http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pirates-hijack-ship-in-philippines-take-several-hostages/
http://www.smh.com.au/world/malaysian-sailors-kidnapped-near-the-philippines-in-latest-act-of-piracy-20160404-gnxl0y.html
Marc Singer, a director with Pacific Strategies & Assessments, a risk mitigation firm that tracks insurgent groups in the Philippines, said both recent abductions were probably the work of a criminal organisation called the Muktadir group.
"The Muktadir family has been engaged in piracy, gunrunning and human trafficking in waters off the southern Philippines for generations and in recent years effectively served as subcontractors for the Abu Sayyaf group," Mr Singer said, referring to a notorious militant organisation in the region.
The Muktadir group has the fastest speedboats in the area and often commits abductions and then hands over the victims to the Abu Sayyaf, which handles ransom negotiations, he said. Several members of the group have outstanding arrest warrants for kidnapping in the Philippines and Malaysia.
In September, the Abu Sayyaf abducted two Canadians, a Norwegian and a Filipino from a resort in the southern Philippines. The group has released videos demanding ransom in return for their release.
In the past year, the group has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, but the Philippine military has said that the group does not receive direct support from the international terrorist group and operates more as a criminal gang than as ideologically driven rebels.
